An Online Soap Opera
Episode 1150: Not For Me“Found some,” her mom, Michael, declared as Hope joined her. Her mom held up a yellow plaid skirt in one hand and a pink plaid skirt in the other. “Is this more like you had in mind than what the other stores had?”“Ooh, I love the yellow, is it soft though or more like a stiff, itchy sort of plaid?” Hope set the red plastic shopping basket on the floor and reached out to feel the fabric. “That’s a pretty big haul you have there. Weren’t you just grabbing a couple things while I was in that interminable returns line? It looks like you’re buying out half the store,” her mom noted. “It’s not that much, and some of its from the dollar section.” Hope hurriedly tried to brush off the topic realizing that she maybe had gone a touch overboard with her selections when she’d intended for it to fly under her mom’s radar. “This skirt is exactly what I wanted, Mom. So that’s one thing ticked off the list, there’s still a jacket, some leggings and a couple tops to find though, right? There was that one polka dot rain jacket at-” “Hope,” her mom said in a sharp voice, still looking at the shopping basket piled high with stuff. “I’m concerned by this.” “Oh, um, I’m not… I don’t expect you to pay for this stuff. It’s not for school so I’m using my own money from working this summer.” “I gathered that, my concern is how you’re spending your money. Look at this giant pile of random stuff in your basket. Are you certain about blowing a chunk of your savings on things you don’t need? Or for that matter do you even want half of these things? I can’t remember the last time I saw you put together a puzzle, you’ve been into reading fantasy lately not romantic comedies, and sweetheart, you don’t have any pets, why on earth would you buy dog and cat toys? Have you mistaken them for actual toys in your rush to spend money? Hopey, I know it’s your money to spend, but even though it’s yours and you’re free to do with it as you like, it’s important to be financially responsible and-” “This stuff isn’t for me. It’s um, on my way to the place I’ve worked at, I’ve seen this charity bin and I, uh, thought it might be nice if for once some of the stuff they got wasn’t used.” Actually, she’d thought her biological dad’s little library would attract more interest if at first it had new stuff to kick things off. When Hope had suggested that to Paul, he’d given her money to do some shopping on top of what he already paid her for her summer job. So yep, she’d lied to her mom twice. Hope wasn’t spending her own money plus it wasn’t going into a charity bin. She felt horrible about lying. “Here I was,” her mom said, “worried you were turning into one of those people who think they have to do a video haul every other day to be relevant. What a relief, you’re actually up to something emotionally healthy, giving back.”
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